


Sunny Side of Hell

by Alakazamfireman (YourF___ingNightmare)



Series: Original Ditties [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Aeron and Finny were married and Aeron isn't coping well, Car Accident, Character Death, Depression, Gen, HE JUST WANTED ICE CREAM HE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS, Love them, M/M, Past Car Accident, Past Character Death, Suicide Attempt, accurate description of depression, but don't take them please they're all I have, mental health service dog, my bby, service dog, these are my babes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 14:19:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13483269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YourF___ingNightmare/pseuds/Alakazamfireman
Summary: Aeron is struggling to cope with the loss of his husband, so he gets a new friend to help.





	Sunny Side of Hell

**Author's Note:**

> Story and all characters are mine

_It should've been a quick trip to the grocery store. Ten minutes to and ten minutes back, just to get some ice cream to treat a few friends. But an hour had passed before Aeron realized Finny wasn't back. It wasn't like he should take long, Finny hates shopping._

_Before he could even call, he received one from Finny himself._

_"Hello?" No answer, just silence. The shuffling of clothes._

_"I'm here, I'm here... Aeron," more shifting. A gasp. "Aeron..." The voice trailed off._

_Now he was concerned. Something was wrong._

_"Finny, are you okay baby?" There was no answer, just shuffling and then:_

_"I'm bleeding... I'm bleeding a lot." The voice was soft and quiet. Aeron was on the verge of tears now. He had never heard his husband sound so weak, so scared._

_His friends---gathered on the couch---all stared at him in confusion. The phone was not on speaker. Aeron looked at the four other eyes in the room, trying to convey the message that this was an emergency._

_"Finny, Finny, baby–"_

_"I'm bleeding, Aeron." Panic._

_"Okay baby, it's okay." Aeron tried to keep his voice steady. "Have you called the police?"_

_"No... no," Finny whispered, "I hear sirens, they're close... Aeron..."_

_The next couple hours were a nightmare. Aeron drove to meet Finny at the scene. Cop cars, sirens flashing, and a flipped Chevy. Their car. Finny's car. Before he even knew, he was running, asking the police for any information they could offer._

_"I'm his husband, I'm his husband, please!"_

_Aeron sat with him in the ambulance, stroking his hair, kissing his hands. He told him everything will be okay. He would be okay. There was blood everywhere. So much blood. But he'll be okay, he's Finny._

_And he was okay, as it seemed. The bleeding stopped by the time they reached the hospital. His bruises would heal. No major damage. The worst was a broken wrist and major concussion. They had hope._

_Aeron sat by his bed with his friends, Lukas and Dennis, sitting right behind him. He held his hand while they joked and laughed about how Finny never did get the ice cream. Aeron struggled to laugh, but he did, knowing his love would live. Finny would live to see the next day and the days after that. Aeron knew he would._

_But that was a lie. It happened when Finny fell asleep that night. It was so quiet, no one even knew. He never felt a thing, just peace._

_He just simply didn't wake up._

~

That was four months ago. Aeron still slept with Finny's shirts, which still smelled like him. They always would.

Finny's side of the bed remained completely undisturbed, besides his pillow, which was cuddled every night along with the shirts.

His games, his phone, all of his things, were right as he left them the last time they were used. The only change in their room was a framed picture of Finny, placed on the small table right beside Aeron's side of the bed.

The house was sparkling clean the first few weeks after Finny's death. Aeron coped by doing all the things he usually would if Finny were there, like cleaning, cooking, never leaving himself without something to do. He talked to Finny while he worked like he normally would. It was as if Finny wasn't gone.

But eventually, it wore on him. He came to terms with the fact that he would never get a response to his shitty jokes or snide comments. Never again.

Dead flowers sat on the dusty counter, having been there for weeks. It was a gift from Dennis, along with a card, telling Aeron to feel better. Dennis wasn't one for comfort. Finny was.

Lukas checked on Aeron at least every other day. He noticed when he had used the bathroom, the towels hadn't been changed. The sink hadn't been used either, or the shower.

There was old food in the refrigerator and cabinet, nothing except a bit of cereal and milk missing. The milk was souring and the cereal was stale.

Four months had passed since Finny's death. The house had only gotten dustier, the food more rotten, and Aeron sicker. He was so weak from lack of moving, lack of eating, that he could barely lift his head to see Lukas open the door.

The scent of lavender, Axe, and body odor hit Lukas hard as he came in, as the rest of the house lacked any sort of smell. All he could see of Aeron was a lump under the blankets and a tuft of brown, greasy, slightly outgrown hair splayed over the pillow.

"Aeron, come on. Come eat something, please." Aeron just put his head back down, sighing and clearing his throat.

"What's the point?" His voice was rough and scratchy, not just from lack of use. As Lukas got closer, in the dim light from behind the curtains, he could see Aeron's puffy bottom eyelids, fresh tear stains running down his sunken cheeks. Even in the dark, Lukas could tell Aeron's bright blue eyes had dulled to a green-grey.

"Aeron," Lukas said lowly, a warning tone. Aeron rolled his eyes, bringing his hands out of the covers to play with a string on the blanket.

"Really, what's the point? I don't want to move on and live and shit–" he sat up, struggling to do so. "So really, what's the point?"

Lukas sighed, grabbing Aeron's bony wrist and pulling gently. "Because I want you to. You're my friend and I care about you..." He gave up on that point with the sarcastic look Aeron gave him, scoffing and beginning to roll over and ignore him.

"There's someone I want you to meet, come on. Get up." Lukas pulled Aeron's hand harder this time, scaring himself with how easily he moved his once 210-pound-muscular-as-all-hell friend, who was now so _light_ it was like tugging the arm of a doll.

Aeron whined in the back of his throat, trying to pull his arm back. "I smell like shit, Lou. I'm not meeting anyone."

Lukas huffed, crossing his arms. "She won't mind, promise. Come. On."

Lukas waited patiently for his friend to get out of bed, sliding his legs slowly over the side. He gently put an arm around one of Aeron's shoulders when he wobbled on his feet, suddenly near tears.

"You're not going to try to set me up, right?" He asked, shakily. Dennis had tried to set him up a dating site account a month ago, ending in Aeron breaking Dennis's nose due to his lack of respect for him and Finny's relationship. They had been together for 11 years, starting freshmen year of high school, and all agreed he was in the wrong for thinking that would be so easy to get over, especially with how simply wonderful their relationship was.

"No, no, don't worry. She's just someone I think can help." Aeron nodded, letting Lukas take his hand and guide him into the living room and onto the couch, sitting him down to walk towards the door.

"Don't move, okay?" Aeron nodded, looking for the remote. He felt sick, bile rising in his throat. He didn't want to see anyone right now, not even Lukas. He just wanted to be alone with Finny, or his shirts, at least.

But the idea of _meeting_ someone _new_ terrified him. He could barely stand being around people he'd know for years, like Lukas. How could he possibly handle meeting a stranger?

By the time his nervous hands found the remote, Lukas had walked back in, holding the right side of his body outside of the door. Aeron couldn't decide if the shit-eating grin on his face soothed his nerves or made them ten times worse.

"Aeron–" he shuffled further inside, "meet Zahji! She's _so_ excited to meet you," Lukas chirped proudly, pulling something—a leash?—inside behind himself.

Walking in beside him was a brown and white husky with light beige eyes. She had a pink harness on with the big, dark letters spelling out **SERVICE DOG**. Her collar was flowery and bright, somehow matching her eyes.

Lukas closed the door and unclipped the leash, motioning for Aeron to call her. He looked at her quizzically before gently patting his lap and clicking his tongue.

Zahji's ears went straight up, her tail a blur as she trotted to Aeron, nosing his hands and licking his fingers. He smiled, for the first time in weeks, rubbing the back of the dog's head with his free hand. Lukas sat leaning against the door, grinning at the scene.

"She's an emotional support dog, and you're her first—and hopefully last—patient, so she'll be super good to you." Aeron barely listened as he worked to remove the harness and scratch the dog's sides, neck, and back. It wasn't long before he was giving her belly rubs and laughing at her foot aggressively hitting the floor.

Lukas smiled, glad to see his friend at least a _little_ happy after so long. Soon after the introduction, he left, saying his goodbyes and leaving Zahji to work her magic. 

~

For the next 5 months, Zahji never left her friend's side. She hated seeing him sad, so she learned the things that made him happy, from little things like licking his hands or cuddling to bigger things like Finny.

She found that sometimes she would wake up from a nap on Aeron's bed to her friend not being there, then finding him in the living room, staring at his lap crying. Times like these, she learned to soothe him by bringing him a shirt off his bed, none of which smelled like him, then letting him hug her while he sobbed.

At first, Aeron thought, although he loved the thought of having a dog, this whole "emotional support" thing was stupid. But he actually felt better, if only a little, with Zahji around. Since he had to feed her and take her outside to do her business, he found it easier to get up and thus take care of himself, as in showering and eating. He had managed to gain enough weight back to be considered physically healthy, plus de-grease his hair. He even got a haircut, getting out of the house for the first time in months. All thanks to Zahji.

Of course, his depression was helped, not cured. He still had breakdowns from time to time if he failed to keep his mind occupied. But in those times, the big, fluffy husky was always there, letting him wet her fur with his tears and snot while she lapped at his ear or neck; a gross, but comforting gesture.

There were days when no matter how hard she tried, Zahji couldn't get her friend out of bed. Those days were the ones where she suffered for his sadness. But he always made it up to her later, with nonstop, unheard apologies, double the food, and a game of fetch at the local park a block away.

Zahji did everything to keep her friend happy. Most days, she did. Some days, she simply couldn't.

This was one of those days. Lukas was out of town, so he wouldn't be checking up on Aeron. After making sure the doors were locked, the outside doggy door was open, and the dog food bag was unzipped, he retreated to his room, locking the door. He stood on a small footstool, one that Finny used to reach things in the kitchen and closet when his husband wasn't around, as he was an entire foot shorter than Aeron, who stood at 6'2.

Just as Aeron finished tying the short bit of rope to the ceiling fan, he heard a strange noise against the door—scratching. He groaned; he had hoped Zahji would be more interested in the open food bag. He shook his head, she'd get hungry eventually.

He continued his work, standing straighter on the footstool to place the loop in the rope around his neck. He pulled it tight, nearly choking him already. He grabbed the rope above his head with one hand, removing one foot to kick the stool–

Aeron groaned louder. Zahji was scratching more furiously now, whining too. She had never been separated from him for this long, besides showers. Even then, he often left the door open for her to come in and out to check on him, after seeing how nervous she got the first time he shut her out while he took a long shower. Her whines were loud and desperate, scratching hard enough to harm the door.

"Come on, Zahji, you're making me feel bad," Aeron whispered to himself, recuperating by giving the footstool a gentle warning tap with his foot. All he had to do was give the thing a good, hard kick. Then it would all be over.

But he never did.

Zahji was howling now, giving up scratching to just _scream_ for her dear friend, terrified of being alone, especially while he was still in the house. She was so smart; she knew he was exceptionally not okay.

With a long sigh, Aeron tossed the noose over his head, stepping down off the footstool, and unlocking his bedroom door. As soon as the handle turned, Zahji's pink nose forced the door open, jumping on Aeron while her tail frantically wagged behind her. She whined as her friend sat down, letting her climb up his lap and sniff his neck, licking his face, eyes, ears, and chin. He smiled sadly, lightly scrubbing the scruff of her neck.

Slowly, he dipped his face down to meet the fur of her back and proceeded to cry.

Zahji moved to sit in his lap, resting her head on his shoulder as her friend's body began to sag, his arms growing heavy around her as he slid to the floor, completely wrecked. He could barely breathe, coughing into her fur as he clung to her. His eyes, throat, and nose stung with every inhale, even gagging for breath a couple of times as he hyperventilated.

"I-I'm...so sorry-y," he choked, hugging the dog even tighter. She just nosed his back—as he was now practically laying on his stomach—as a silent "it's okay."

Once he calmed his sobs to soft hiccups, Zahji moved out of his arms to trot over to the bed, grabbing a fluffy sweater that didn't smell like Aeron. He sat up and took it from her with slow, tired hands, hugging it to his face and letting fresh, silent tears soak into the fabric.

"I'm sorry, Finny," he whispered, hiccuping into the sweater. Zahji nosed his hands, licking the salty tears off of them. He laid a weak hand on her neck, gently rubbing the scruff.

"I love him a lot," he said, sniffling. He jumped with a light, dry laugh. "He would've loved you. He loves dogs." Aeron laid back down on his side, still snuggling the shirt, moving one of his arms so that Zahji could curl up against him.

"I love you a lot, too," he hummed, smoothing down the dog's ears. He looked up at the noose still dangling from the ceiling fan. He would clean it up later. By that, he would throw it away. And burn it.

He sighed, closing his eyes and laying his cheek against Zahji's head as they both fell asleep on the floor. He decided, although she can't replace his dear husband, she certainly was his best friend, and he had an idea where he'd be without her.


End file.
